Last night’s storms created the best mood for reading the night away. I’ve been in mourning after finishing my last book, leaving me struggling to start a new one. However, I grabbed Rachel Held Evans’, “A Year of Biblical Womanhood” from my bookshelf and her humor, contemplation, frustration, doubt, and overall faith was the perfect fit. She sits with the uncomfortable passages…something I find tremendously hard, especially in regards to how women were treated/viewed in the Old Testament; the stonings, the rapes, the ownership by men – to name a few. My blood boils reading them or hearing people say the Bible has all the answers or is the perfect guide to life (especially traditional marriage). I want to ask, as the author does, have you read the Bible? I mean – like all of it? It is a landfill of grey areas and stories of sordid characters. Yet – I find comfort in it. Admittedly, more so when Jesus arrives on the scene and starts debunking the literalism held by the rabbis. I have long left reading the Bible in the literal sense – I had to. There are passages that still make my stomach turn but though I do believe it was divinely inspired – it was still put together by the hands of men (gender, for me, is important here). That is where I sit – uncomfortable but hopeful and inspired especially by the life of Jesus and many of the characters of the Bible.
Visits from friends, nutritious and yummy brunch at The Root, and probably one of the most relaxing yoga classes I’ve experienced in a long time produced a wonderful Sunday. I left the yoga studio and was taken aback when I first heard my voice – the quiet stayed with me longer than usual. Needless to say, grocery shopping probably was not the best choice of activity after class but this led to cooking for the next few days. Also, I booked a retreat filled with yoga, meditation, and hiking in the Ozark Mountains that will begin Wednesday! I’ll be unplugging entirely and can’t wait!
“Dwell on the beauty of life. Watch the stars, and see yourself running with them.” Marcus Aurelius
April 2013 Filed under lukas, whytcliff park
